Quote from: Mistwell on February 01, 2023, 09:45:24 PM
I do raise a bit of an eyebrow at the number of people saying, "I buy his stuff but I don't run any of the game" comments. Are these just mostly reading material for many people?

His setting material generators are just great regardless of system.

Kevin's work is consistently excellent.

Anyone on the fence should download his free stuff on DriveThruRPG so you can see the value he produces. His Silent Legions is the absolute best Horror RPG supplement ever - even if you never use his system and just port over all the tools to Cthulhu or Kult or Chill or Dark Heresy or whatever.

His Godbound is a better version of Exalted. If anyone runs Quixalted or Exalted Lite, the Godbound tools are terrific for those games. If anyone wants to run high powered D&D but without the system issues of D&D at high levels, Godbound is your system.

I've run Stars Without Number and it's D&D Traveller from a chargen & system perspective, but again, it's the GM tools that matter most which I used heftily with Rifts, Gamma World and Classic Traveller. SWN on it's own is great too.

I'm actually on the fence about Cities Without Number, but only because I've been writing my own cyber-whatever RPG and I'm hesistant about having his designs in my head while still writing. But I'll probably at least grab the PDF because I have little doubt that CWN will become the new standard in cyberpunk RPGing.

Unfortunately, he does not use decent printing. There is little reason to get the kicker. You can buy a HC version of the game, but it is only a slight step up from print on demand. He is using slightly thicker paper and stitching instead of page glue at least. That is the kicker deal, but it is still just a print and play solution.

The only reason I buy rpgs and not pdfs is to have a super high quality HC version on my bookshelf to add to the collection. Not having that is a deal breaker for me. I'll just pick it up off drivethrough when it is available.

Quote from: Message To... what is "Offset Print Book"? And will you have an add-on tier for HC versions of Stars and Worlds?

Quote from: Message FromAn offset print book is printed on a conventional press, with four-color
process ink. They're not necessarily better than a digital print-on-demand
copy, but in this case they are because I'm using heavier paper and richer
ink coverage. In addition, these offset copies have a sewn binding with the
pages stitched into the spine rather than the less-sturdy glued pages of a
POD copy.

An addon tier for additional books is regrettably impractical- I'd either
have to pay shipping twice, or else hold off sending the books until CWN
was complete and ready to ship, thus making the patron wait months to get
something they could order right now from my webstore.

With regards,
Kevin Crawford

Quote from: Spinachcat on February 02, 2023, 01:55:50 AM
Kevin's work is consistently excellent.

Anyone on the fence should download his free stuff on DriveThruRPG so you can see the value he produces. His Silent Legions is the absolute best Horror RPG supplement ever - even if you never use his system and just port over all the tools to Cthulhu or Kult or Chill or Dark Heresy or whatever.

His Godbound is a better version of Exalted. If anyone runs Quixalted or Exalted Lite, the Godbound tools are terrific for those games. If anyone wants to run high powered D&D but without the system issues of D&D at high levels, Godbound is your system.

I've run Stars Without Number and it's D&D Traveller from a chargen & system perspective, but again, it's the GM tools that matter most which I used heftily with Rifts, Gamma World and Classic Traveller. SWN on it's own is great too.

I'm actually on the fence about Cities Without Number, but only because I've been writing my own cyber-whatever RPG and I'm hesistant about having his designs in my head while still writing. But I'll probably at least grab the PDF because I have little doubt that CWN will become the new standard in cyberpunk RPGing.

Welcome to the club, but I might just drop the Cyberpunk game altogether, not gonna be as good as his stuff anyway.

Quote from: Spinachcat on February 02, 2023, 01:55:50 AM
Kevin's work is consistently excellent.

Anyone on the fence should download his free stuff on DriveThruRPG so you can see the value he produces. His Silent Legions is the absolute best Horror RPG supplement ever - even if you never use his system and just port over all the tools to Cthulhu or Kult or Chill or Dark Heresy or whatever.

His Godbound is a better version of Exalted. If anyone runs Quixalted or Exalted Lite, the Godbound tools are terrific for those games. If anyone wants to run high powered D&D but without the system issues of D&D at high levels, Godbound is your system.

I've run Stars Without Number and it's D&D Traveller from a chargen & system perspective, but again, it's the GM tools that matter most which I used heftily with Rifts, Gamma World and Classic Traveller. SWN on it's own is great too.

I'm actually on the fence about Cities Without Number, but only because I've been writing my own cyber-whatever RPG and I'm hesistant about having his designs in my head while still writing. But I'll probably at least grab the PDF because I have little doubt that CWN will become the new standard in cyberpunk RPGing.

Wow. That's some great reviews. OK, you sold me. I gotta pick up something from him.

Edit: Just downloaded the free Stars Without Number PDF and...damn. This is good. I need the $80 pretty hardbound book now.

Crawford really must be bummed he didn't called Silent Legions - Tentacles Without Numbers.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on February 02, 2023, 11:37:39 AMWelcome to the club, but I might just drop the Cyberpunk game altogether, not gonna be as good as his stuff anyway.

Did you read his PolyChrome supplement for SWN? I thought that was good work, and there's cyber stuff in SWN 2e so I expect CWN to be an even better, deeper work but if you have SWN and WWN, this will those concepts ported into cyberpunk.

Though I do wonder how CWN will be different than a non-spacefaring SWN game.

Quote from: Spinachcat on February 02, 2023, 06:34:52 PM

Quote from: GeekyBugle on February 02, 2023, 11:37:39 AMWelcome to the club, but I might just drop the Cyberpunk game altogether, not gonna be as good as his stuff anyway.

Did you read his PolyChrome supplement for SWN? I thought that was good work, and there's cyber stuff in SWN 2e so I expect CWN to be an even better, deeper work but if you have SWN and WWN, this will those concepts ported into cyberpunk.

Though I do wonder how CWN will be different than a non-spacefaring SWN game.

I've got the beta, reading it through when I'm not writting my game (not the cyberpunk one, that one is in the backburner anyway).

Going through the draft...one of the backgrounds is Manager. HOPEFULLY one of the cyber implants is Karen Hair.

Also, another System to substitute the core of Shadowrun with. 

I did some extensive world-building on a setting a couple years back that blended the genres of cyberpunk with post-nuclear holocaust, but I never really put a "system" to the lore. I love Crawford's other work, and with the rules explicitly placed under licensure, I'm going to have to consider if it would be a good fit. Whether I actual use a license or not isn't important; it's just good to know his position on the matter.

Quote from: Shrieking Banshee on February 02, 2023, 08:13:06 PM
Also, another System to substitute the core of Shadowrun with. 

I've been playing Shadowrun since 1992 and I couldn't even tell you how the system works. I don't even think the guys who taught me how to play understand it.

Quote from: Mistwell on February 01, 2023, 09:45:24 PM
I've been curious about all his games.

I do raise a bit of an eyebrow at the number of people saying, "I buy his stuff but I don't run any of the game" comments. Are these just mostly reading material for many people?

He creates the best, most useful GM Tools in the industry IMO.

Quote from: Spinachcat on February 02, 2023, 06:34:52 PM

Quote from: GeekyBugle on February 02, 2023, 11:37:39 AMWelcome to the club, but I might just drop the Cyberpunk game altogether, not gonna be as good as his stuff anyway.

Did you read his PolyChrome supplement for SWN? I thought that was good work, and there's cyber stuff in SWN 2e so I expect CWN to be an even better, deeper work but if you have SWN and WWN, this will those concepts ported into cyberpunk.

Though I do wonder how CWN will be different than a non-spacefaring SWN game.

One of the changes he is implementing is that there doesn't seem to be any specific classes in CWN.

Hacking is also very different. I think I prefer SWN's simpler system, but hackers in CWN definitely shouldn't be suffering for a lack of options when it comes to things to do. I do plan on disallowing cyberware to be hacked, though. I'm also going to condense a few of the hacking actions for simplicity's sake--things like activate/deactivate or lock/unlock. I don't think it's necessary that they be separate.